


Endgame

by Samuraiter



Category: selector infected WIXOSS
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-24 16:31:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3775609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samuraiter/pseuds/Samuraiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What does one do if there are no cards left to play? One starts a new game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endgame

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Reishiin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reishiin/gifts).



> This takes place several years after the events of the show.

It seemed to Ruko like the elevator had no walls, only a hand rail floating in the air above the platform. She realized that the effect came from the walls being made of glass, but it almost provided a sense of flying through the air as she ascended to the floor she had been directed to choose. That made her smile. She could see the snowflakes twirling past her, a view that the person she had come to visit – and at least one other person both of them had once met – might have appreciated. Despite that, she still missed the view of her home city – a different building, a different elevator.

She received a text. _Hitoe_. They – and Yuzuki, too, though it had not been easy for her – had managed to get into the same university, and they had been making the best of it, having been inseparable since before high school. She texted Hitoe – always concerned for her – back, telling her that she had made it, to expect her home the next day, and to tell Yuzuki to keep studying for the test they all had in about ... three days, according to the date and time on her smartphone. Chemistry. Not her favorite subject by a long shot, but at least she did not wrestle with it the way Yuzuki had to.

_Does Iona go to university?_ She most likely did not have to. Or did she? If she had a place waiting for her in the family business, that did not excuse her from having to get the education needed to hold it up. Did it? Ruko had no idea. But Iona at least had the free time to send her this invitation. It had a strange feeling to it. After everything that had happened during the saga of the Selectors, Ruko and Iona had only a minimum of contact, and the "Iona" who had emerged from that conflict, the _real_ Iona, had practically been a stranger. And yet she had not dismissed their contact entirely.

So ... Ruko did not know what to expect. Out of the blue, Iona – never quite out of sight, always turning on one magazine cover or another – had invited her to come and visit her at her new apartment, up at the top of the glass building in the midst of all the snow. It had reminded Ruko of the pillar-like building in her home city, at first, but she blinked that thought away. That had been a different, more sinister time. _This_ building did not seem to be taking the sunlight away from her. Instead, it reflected it, and what it did not reflect passed through it, reminding Ruko of ... a white room. Also another time.

The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened with only a whisper of sound. The apartment seemed to take up that entire floor, and it seemed to be nothing but windows, the snow outside making Ruko feel like she stood on top of the world. She could almost feel the building sway as the winds pushed at its sides, but she blamed that on her imagination. In the middle of the room, she spotted Iona, her back to her, looking through the windows, face tilted upwards, hands at her sides. She seemed about the same as she always had – a little taller, perhaps, but the same.

"Ruko." Her quiet voice carried across the apartment despite the distance, despite her back being turned to the person she addressed. "Come in." And Ruko did, leaving her bag and shoes at the door. She half-expected her footsteps to echo, but the space seemed to swallow them up. _Like ... that other white room_. But she pushed that from her thoughts. Why did it keep coming back? Because most of her memories of Iona came from that time? Because that time always seemed to lurk under the surface of her mind, like a shark beneath the waves? Hard for her to say, she had to admit.

Iona did not turn until Ruko walked up to her, and, when she did, she held, in her hand, a card. _Could it be a – ?_ But it seemed to be a normal Wixoss card, not one of the LRIGs, and, as if sensing the thought, Iona said, "They have started appearing again. The LRIGs. There have been sightings. I thought you ought to be the first to know." But the expression on her face – neutral and timeless, but flickers of emotion showing at the edges, like a photograph in such high definition that it seemed as real as the person it depicted – seemed to be more quiet contemplation than deep-seated concern.

As if sensing her confusion, Iona added, "I know ... that the three of you have already tried to find the others, the ones who used to be LRIGs themselves, and there are several you cannot find. I think you know the ones." Ruko did. She had three holes in her heart in the shape of those three who used to be there. "I am here to help you to do it. People are starting to make wishes again. There are going to be _Selectors_ again. None of us who were there in the beginning might be able to play now, but –" A rare smile. "– we can be there to guide the next generation who are here to play."

"You could have called all three of us, Iona," Ruko replied, "but –" A soft touch on her cheek. She blushed in spite of herself. Iona had a different smile on her face, a private smile that Ruko suspected no one else had seen. "– you only called me. Why?" She did not receive her answer in words. Instead, Iona leaned down to kiss her – very gently, only a hint of contact – on the lips, and she did not resist. She had no reason to do so – almost like a small voice in her insides told her that she ought to have expected it. Her first kiss, over as quickly as it started, and it left her blinking and blushing.

"The others will come," Iona said, "but you and I can begin." She turned to look through the windows again. "I remember what you said about Yuki. When you e-mailed me after the ... last incident." Her eyes seemed distant when she turned back to Ruko, but there was a spark in them. "I think ... there is enough of me in her for me to see in you what she saw. And I think that might be enough to lead both of us back to her. And to Tama." _Tama_. The name made Ruko fill up with feeling. "It will not be easy, Ruko, but ... come with me. Please." And she held out a hand, the quiet spark still burning in her dark eyes.

Ruko took that hand, and the next chapter in their story began.

**END**.


End file.
